US election: Harris and Trump campaign in key swing states

Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both campaigned in battleground states on Monday, with barely two weeks remaining until elections in the US. 

Harris toured a trio of crucial swing states with Liz Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, two of the highest-profile Republicans to publicly endorse her, seeking support from moderate Republican-leaning voters.

Trump was able to win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in his 2016 election victory against Hillary Clinton, but he lost all three states to Joe Biden in 2020.

Holding them again on November 5 would all but seal victory for Democratic candidate Harris. 

What did Harris and Cheney say?

During one of her three "town hall" events with Cheney, moderated by a conservative radio host, in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Harris returned to her recent attack line of questioning Trump's mental stability and suitability for office. 

"In many, many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of him being president of the United States are brutally serious," Harris told the audience. 

She also said that Trump "has been manipulated and is so clearly able to be manipulated by favor and flattery, including by dictators and autocrats."

Harris said if Trump were to win next month, Ukraine would likely fall to Russia. Foreign policy is one area where Cheney often criticizes Trump.

Cheney, meanwhile, said during the event in Royal Oak, Michigan that she had spoken to several Republicans with concerns about Trump who had also said "I can't be public" in those opinions. But she voiced confidence that "they'll do the right thing."

"And I would just remind people, if you're at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody," Cheney said. 

Trump dismisses 'war hawk' Cheney, criticizes hurricane response again

Trump downplayed Cheney's appearances in comments online on Monday, calling her a "war hawk."

He accused Cheney, whose father is best known for his role in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during the George W. Bush administration, of wanting to go to war with "every Muslim country known to mankind" like her father, who he described as "the man that ridiculously pushed Bush to go to war in the Middle East." 

Trump made three stops in North Carolina — usually a fairly safe state for Republicans, but an increasingly competitive one which Barack Obama was able to claim in his 2008 landslide — as it continues to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. 

He again criticized the federal government's response to the storms, even after his earlier criticisms prompted rebukes from North Carolina Republicans like Chuck Edwards, who was sharing the stage with Trump as he made the renewed claims on Monday.

Asked if his criticisms were helpful, after Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees complained of harassment by local militias impeding their work, Trump said he believed "you have to let people know how they're doing." 

"If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that, too, because I think they should be rewarded," he said. "If they're doing a poor job, we're supposed to not say it?"

'Central Park Five' announce defamation lawsuit over Trump debate comments

Meanwhile, in Trump's New York base, the five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongfully convicted of a 1989 rape and murder of a jogger in Central Park said they were suing Trump over statements he made at last month's presidential debate. 

Known broadly as the "Central Park Five," the men spent between five and 13 years in prison before they were cleared in 2002 based on new DNA evidence and the confession of another person. 

Trump falsely said during the debate that the men had killed a person and pleaded guilty. 

The young men confessed early in the investigation. They soon said they had done so under duress and pleaded not guilty at trial, though they were convicted.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign dismissed the defamation lawsuit as "just another frivolous, election interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists." 

One of the plaintiff's lawyers denied a political motivation and said the men were seeking compensation for renewed damage to their reputations and for Trump intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

Trump had been vocal on the killing at the time, taking out a full-page newspaper advert calling for the death penalty's reintroduction in New York.

In 2019, when challenged on the issue, he refused to apologize or revise comments made about the group prior to their exoneration. 

msh/jsi (AFP, AP, Reuters)